Page 3 - Hafen Hamburg | Broschüre | Port of Hamburg Magazine 4.2020

Dear Readers,
Recent months have proved very challenging for the Port of Hamburg too. Yet at no time has the COVID pandemic caused a standstill. This was true not solely of the many companies and terminals operating around the clock, but also of such public sector organisations as HPA – Hamburg Port Authority.
To maintain life at full pace, we need intact infrastructure that does not end at the city limits. Hamburg, and especially the Port of Hamburg, relies on sound hinterland infra- structure. The more swiftly goods reach their destinations, the more successfully can the Port of Hamburg do business.
One of its great strengths lies in the host of hinterland rail lines, and meanwhile far further afield. The China services have created a new route. A complex track network between terminals and points inland is required to bring all individual railcars to their correct destinations. For years, Hamburg Port Railway has been ensuring that the rail network is and remains fully functional. At the same time, new tracks are being added, and single tracks further upgraded. In addition, interfaces between the Port Railway network and the DB – German Rail network are being expanded more and more ef- fectively.
Shipping routes form part of the infrastructure. Without well-developed access and departure for vessels via the Lower and Outer Elbe, the Port of Hamburg would lack any prospects. Adjustment of the fairway has laid the foundation for the future. Not at all far away, the additional major project on the Kiel Canal is of immense importance for the Port of Hamburg. Here the Federal government is investing at least 2.6 billion euros in deepening the canal. For Germany as an exporting nation, that is a sound invest- ment. A further 300 million euros are flowing into the expansion of the Lüneburg lock. That illustrates the importance of inland shipping in the Port of Hamburg’s hinterland infrastructure trio.
Dismissal by the Federal Administrative Court of the five final lawsuits objecting to the Fehmarnbelt tunnel has brought Scandinavia still closer to Europe. This will also have a positive impact on the Port of Hamburg.
Nor does a modern port infrastructure function without a well-developed road net- work. Many goods remain in the Metropolitan Region around Hamburg and are already further processed there. Upgrading of the A 1, A7 and A 26 autobahns and the road network around the Port of Hamburg will help bring cargo – whether imports or ex- ports – more rapidly to the customer.
Many exciting infrastructure projects have already been completed. Others are under construction or at least at the planning stage. This issue of ‘Port of Hamburg Magazine’ shows which these are.
We wish you good reading!
Ingo Egloff and Axel Mattern
Joint CEOs Port of Hamburg Marketing
INFRASTRUCTURE PORT ■
© HHM / Achim Multhaupt